Free WoW, Come and Get Some.

Come and get you some new free WoW. That’s right, WoW is to be offered for free; not free to play, at least not yet. But you can play up to level 20 without paying a cent. Apparently there are no time restrictions either. So what do I think about this? Is this a good way for Blizzard to attract new players to the game? To get in some fresh blood?

Have any of you tried to download WoW from scratch recently? Have you looked at the file size? WoW has been touted from day one as a brilliant game in the sense that it can be played on any computer, which is true. But any internet connection? Or any hard drive? Depending on where you live it can take days. And if you live in a part of the world where you have a monthly download limit then I don’t like your chances. It’s not something which endears itself to the casual and curious market. So good luck on this one, Blizzard.

hm… you cant mail shit too trailaccounts? hirelooms or shit like that?! 20 pvptwink with no enchants could be fun… for 10 minutes! but activating my account just to try this out… i think i’ll just stick with my xbox till something intressting comes out. and i still like the new civ…
on the other hand… reading that the pug is now more into rated bgs is something to consider…

The large download has always been a problem for any MMORPG to get people in the door. However, I don’t think it’s as big of a problem for WoW players because of the launcher allowing you to play before the entire game is finished downloading.

As for the monthly download limit…yeah, that’s gonna blow your charges out of the water.

I think “any computer” is poetic license but any computer that someone who wants to play games is likely to own is closer to the mark. As for the download limit, well, yes, it’s not uncommon for an ISP to impose a limit these days but the world is changing. My ISP is offering me 100Mb (what do I need that for except to download WoW ?) and the Japanese are already experimenting with 1Gb into the home so it will get there.

Is this Blizzard’s amazing forethought or just that they have lost control of the game size ? I don’t know, I suspect the latter, but chances are the proliferation of bandwidth and market forces will save them.